Let's Educate! A Reincarnated Young Lady Decided to Change Common Sense. - Chapter 11

Different World Language Acquisition

Two years have passed since that fateful day.

I am now three years old.

My world has changed drastically since that day when I realized that I would never be able to understand the language of this world.

My dream life as a carefree hermit came to an end, and the days of hell began as I piled up stones on the riverbank.

From that day on, my attitude changed drastically.

Amelia, the good, quiet, unruly girl, was dead.

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Anyway, I must learn the language of this world.

I can’t afford to pretend to be something I’m not.

I don’t care if they are my parents or my servants.

I simply follow them around and ask them questions.

I can’t speak Japanese to them out of the blue, so I just say “ah” or “uu” to them.

I would point and tap, and say “Aa” and “Uu” in rapid succession, pretending to be interested in various things.

I instantly memorize the words they say, analyze them, and guess the word that refers to the object.

Using the guessed word, check the other person’s response, revise the guess, and gradually narrow down the meaning of the word.

The same is true for verbs and adjectives.

Intentionally create an action or situation in which the word is likely to be used, and then narrow down the meaning of the word based on the words that will be used in response to the action or situation.

Once the meaning of the word is narrowed down, I repeat it over and over again to keep it in my memory.

Since I don’t know the characters, I can’t take notes.

As one would expect, I was not allowed to take notes in Japanese, nor was I allowed to touch the pen and ink, so I simply had to memorize the words on the spot and constantly recall them so as not to forget.

The degree of retention of memorized material depends on how often you try to remember it, so although it is hard, it is not meaningless.

Anyway, I frequently check my memory to make sure I don’t forget the words whose meanings I know.

From good morning to good night, I repeat this process every time I go to bed and every time I wake up.

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Finally, I have learned more than 1,000 words.

I can understand daily conversation at a reasonable level now.

Do I count them all? 

Yes, I am counting.

I keep track of the number of words I know the meaning of and check my memory every day to make sure I haven’t forgotten any.

If I count the number of words I know in advance, I can notice if there are words that are missing from my memory when I check to make sure I haven’t forgotten any.

For example, if you are sure you have memorized 10 words but can only recall 9, you can quickly realize that you have overlooked one.

If you realize early on that you have forgotten some words, you can recall them quite well.

If I don’t even realize that I have forgotten a word, the word will be lost in oblivion within a few days.

If there are notes, however, it is more important to try not to forget what was once learned than to relearn it.

I have studied more than one foreign language in my life.

I often gave this advice to my students when I was a tutor and cram school teacher.

Anyway, I always ask myself, “Did I learn it well?” I am always trying to make sure that I have not forgotten what I have memorized. This is the basis of memorization.

I made sure to do it thoroughly.

When I started learning, I struggled a lot.

To begin with, I felt a great deal of stress from pestering the surrounding adults without regard for their annoyance.

After following them around so much, I eventually found no words that had a clear meaning, and I became very depressed.

But little by little, I began to learn how to get the right words out of them, and I even mastered the magic phrase “What is this?” which made the learning process progress quickly.

Now, I can understand almost any everyday conversation without any problems.

I can’t let my guard down yet, but I think I’ve largely avoided the possibility of suddenly getting rid of it.

And the other day, my language learning was given a “What’s this? ” learning.

To my surprise, I succeeded in getting my mother to teach me letters! 

I have tried to induce her to teach me letters several times before, but at that time, I was still a bit too young to speak and look like a baby (I still am), so she wouldn’t let me try it.